Page 15 of Crave

Just as I toss my bag on the passenger seat, I hear the familiar rumble of Alexei’s BMW. As I look at the rear-view mirror, his black bike comes into view and of course, he pulls a wheelie as he crosses through the gate.

Every drive safe text I send him is utterly pointless, yet I’ll never stop trying. I need him too much to ever leave me. He pulls up next to my car and I put down my window as he pulls his helmet and mask off, shaking out his dark curls.

With his teeth he pulls off his gloves.

“Where are you off to?” he asks, climbing off his bike and opening my door.

“Work.”

“You got time for some lunch?”

I look at my Rolex and tap my chin.

“Hmm, I really don’t know. My boss is kinda harsh, I don’t wanna lose my job.”

He holds out his hand and I place mine there as he pulls me up to my feet.

“You could lose him ten million and blow up the building and you’d still have a job.”

I scoff but he’s not wrong.

“See, you can’t deny it either. You know you have all three of us wrapped around your big finger.” He grins and falls into step next to me.

“Little, Alexei.”

“Nothing little about me.” He shrugs, putting his helmet under his arm and dragging me towards my own front door. He keys in the security pin and makes himself at home, rummaging through my refrigerator.

I sit up on the barstool and shoot a quick text to Mikhail that I’m running late.

He responds right away.

Miki

Bring Alexei with you. Need to speak to both of you.

“Hey, A? You pissed off my brother?”

He pauses, turning to me with a tomato in his hand. “Which one?”

I flip my phone around to show him the screen. “Mikhail. He wants to speak to you.”

He scratches his head. “I’ve behaved. I think.”

I bite back a laugh at the fact he’s genuinely trying to figure out what he’s been doing.

“Oh.” His face falls along with his shoulders.

One of my eyebrows raise. “What did you do?”

He chews on his lip and looks to the side. “There was a little mix up on the word ‘blow’ yesterday.”

I rub my temple. This is no doubt going to cause me a headache. “In what way?”

“Well, when Nikolai told me to get the blow, I assumed he meant, you know, like boom.” He mimics an explosion with his hands and pops the tomato which runs down his hands.

“Ew.” He tosses it in the sink and washes his hands.

“So you blew the place up instead of getting the cocaine?” I shake my head. Nikolai should know better, especially with words like that.

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